[ADEQ Media] ADEQ to Participate in Cleanup from Illegal Border Crossings in Madera Canyon Area of Pima County on Saturday, May 30

Thu May 28 10:52:21 MST 2009

PHOENIX (May 28, 2009) - Officials from the Arizona Department of
Environmental Quality and Coronado National Forest  will partner with
local volunteer groups in a cleanup Saturday in Madera Canyon, southeast
of Green Valley, to remove waste discarded by undocumented migrants on
area trails.

ADEQ is participating in the cleanup as part of its Undocumented Migrant
(UDM) Waste Project, through the department's Office of Border
Environmental Protection. The cleanup is being organized by U.S. Forest
Service employees and will focus on two so-called "layup areas," where
illegal immigrants discard many of their personal possessions before
receiving rides from smugglers.

A media tour of the cleanup site will be conducted at 9 a.m. Saturday.
To go to the meeting point, take Exit 63 off Interstate 19 in south
Green Valley and drive 13 miles to the southeast to the Madera Canyon
Visitor Information Station. 

"The trashing of the southern Arizona countryside is a huge problem,"
said ADEQ Acting Director Patrick J. Cunningham. "We have been working
with officials at the state, federal and local levels, as well as
community groups, to develop a coordinated strategy for addressing this
enormous issue and organizing cleanups of migrant waste."

ADEQ has organized numerous cleanups of migrant trash during the past
year in the Yuma, Douglas, Sierra Vista, Arivaca and Santa Cruz River
areas near the Mexican border and about 100 tons of waste have been
hauled out of those areas. 

In addition to its UDM Waste Project, ADEQ has a broader, ongoing effort
to address the overall problem of illegal dumping throughout Arizona.
The agency has established a program to work with local officials to
prevent illegal dumping and clean up illegal dump sites across the
state.

-30-

"News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at 
communications@azdeq.gov."

**********************************************************************
NOTICE: This e-mail (and any attachments) may contain PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL information and is intended only for the use of the specific individual(s) to whom it is addressed. It may contain information that is privileged and confidential under state and federal law. This information may be used or disclosed only in accordance with law, and you may be subject to penalties under law for improper use or further disclosure of the information in this e-mail and its attachments. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the person named above by reply e-mail, and then delete the original e-mail. Thank you.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.azdeq.gov/pipermail/media/attachments/20090528/a1928092/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 1892 bytes
Desc: image002.gif
URL: <http://lists.azdeq.gov/pipermail/media/attachments/20090528/a1928092/attachment.gif>